OBAMA RUNS FROM LEADERSHIP ON ANOTHER TRIP & DEMANDS RUSSIA TURN OVER SNOWDEN

Is Obama really naive enough to believe that Russian leaders would just pick up the phone and arrange for extradition of Snowden?

While Obama is on a vacation...oops...I mean, a diplomatic trip to Africa, he is spending millions...I mean A LOT OF BUCKAROONIES!  Not only that, but he is escaping from the scandals that are going on right under our noses, in the United States.

US News | George Zimmerman Trial | More ABC News Videos

"Hundreds of U.S. Secret Service agents will be dispatched to secure facilities in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. A Navy aircraft carrier or amphibious ship, with a fully staffed medical trauma center, will be stationed offshore in case of an emergency. 

"Military cargo planes will airlift in 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bullet­proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay. Fighter jets will fly in shifts, giving 24-hour coverage over the president's airspace, so they can intervene quickly if an errant plane gets too close. 

"The elaborate security provisions -- which will cost the government tens of millions of dollars -- are outlined in a confidential internal planning document obtained by The Washington Post. 

"While the preparations appear to be in line with similar travels in the past, the document offers an unusual glimpse into the colossal efforts to protect the U.S. commander in chief on trips abroad." source: USAToday

One of these scandals is Edward Snowden's leaking of information (that is supposed to be top secret) from the NSA.  Obama is trying to make Snowden's leaks are no big deal and that Russia should just pick up the phone and arrange extradition, as if Russia is actually a "friend" of the United States.  For those keeping up with the current affairs around the globe, we all know that Russia has been supplying our "enemies" with nuclear arms and is on the side of our "enemies", without nice things to say about the United States.  However, Obama seems to think that he is so powerful that Russia should just bow and provide.

THE FOLLOWING VIDEO WAS PUBLISHED ON Jun 24, 2013
Edward Snowden and Wikileaks' Sarah Harrison who is accompanying him are "safe and healthy," Julian Assange said during a conference call broadcast by RT. "The current status of Mr Snowden and Harrison is that both are healthy and safe and they are in contact with their legal teams," the WikiLeaks founder said. "I cannot give further information as to their whereabouts," Assange added. "Snowden is not a traitor, he is not a spy he is a whistleblower who told the public the important truth," he pointed out.

Obama has other issues going on, but through traveling and "campaigning" for his causes, he is avoiding the leadership part in his role as the President of the United States of America.  He is attempting to let things cool off and is attempting to have his cronies take care of attacking whistleblowers, helping him avoid the other scandals, and creating diversions from the attention on these matters.

Meanwhile, there are sites, including Facebook, where there are now "fans" gathering of Edward Snowden.  The longer that Snowden is on the run, the more infamous he is becoming.



As you can see from the video displayed above, the President is avoiding answering questions regarding Snowden.  What a leader!  He sure knows how to make a country great!  NOT!!!  His job is not being done by him.  It's disgusting!

The following is published on Jun 21, 2013 

US officials have charged NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden with espionage. They told the Washington Post that federal prosecutors filed a sealed criminal complaint against the now 30-year-old who handed over a series of government documents to the media revealing secret NSA surveillance programs. He has also been charged with theft and conversion of government property. RT's Political Commentator Sam Sacks and Abby Martin, Host of Breaking the Set have had their say on what these charges mean for Snowden.

Are we just supposed to trust Obama?  Snowden is being charged under the Espionage Act.  This is the 5th whistleblower who is being charged under the Espionage Act.  What about whistleblower protection?  People should know what protection they have, and people who work in top security agencies, who have taken an oath of secrecy, should not be revealing things while under these oaths/promises that they have signed.

The following was published on Jun 24, 2013 

David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, shares analysis Edward Snowden's movements and the overall fallout of the global chase for the NSA leaker.

There is no extradition treaty with Russia.  Obama says that there have been "useful conversations with Russia".  What does this mean?  He has no idea that the Russians think that the United States is wrecking the world on purpose.  They especially hate Obama and his administration.  Yes...HATE.




Here is more on what Russia really thinks about the United States.  If Obama starts being a leader, maybe he can start to change things around so that scandals are taken care of in the proper manner and relationships with countries are mended.  However, he seems to feel that being away from the country or "campaigning" is more important.  That is called running away from leadership and taking ownership of the issues you are supposed to be owning.

The following is from PJ Media...

The Russians Think We’re Wrecking the World on Purpose

March 19th, 2013 - 1:09 pm

“In Russia, most analysts, politicians and ordinary citizens believe in the unlimited might of America, and thus reject the notion that the US has made, and continues to make, mistakes in the [Middle East]. Instead, they assume it’s all a part of a complex plan to restructure the world and to spread global domination,” writes Fyodor Lukyanov on the Al Monitor website today. Lukyanov, who chairs Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, laments what he derides as a “conspiracy theory.” Nonetheless, he reports, President Vladimir Putin and the Russian elite think that the United States is spreading chaos as part of a diabolical plot for world domination:

From Russian leadership’s point of view, the Iraq War now looks like the beginning of the accelerated destruction of regional and global stability, undermining the last principles of sustainable world order. Everything that’s happened since — including flirting with Islamists during the Arab Spring, U.S. policies in Libya and its current policies in Syria — serve as evidence of strategic insanity that has taken over the last remaining superpower.

Russia’s persistence on the Syrian issue is the product of this perception. The issue is not sympathy for Syria’s dictator, nor commercial interests, nor naval bases in Tartus. Moscow is certain that if continued crushing of secular authoritarian regimes is allowed because America and the West support “democracy,” it will lead to such destabilization that will overwhelm all, including Russia. It’s therefore necessary for Russia to resist, especially as the West and the United States themselves experience increasing doubts

It’s instructive to view ourselves through a Russian mirror. The term “paranoid Russian” is a pleonasm. “The fact is that all Russian politicians are clever. The stupid ones are all dead. By contrast, America in its complacency promotes dullards. A deadly miscommunication arises from this asymmetry. The Russians cannot believe that the Americans are as stupid as they look, and conclude that Washington wants to destroy them,” I wrote in 2008 under the title “Americans play monopoly, Russians chess.” Russians have dominated chess most of the past century, for good reason: it is the ultimate exercise in paranoia. All the pieces on the board are guided by a single combative mind, and every move is significant. In the real world, human beings flail and blunder. For Russian officials who climbed the greasy pole in the intelligence services, mistakes are unthinkable, for those who made mistakes are long since buried.

read more at PJ MEDIA

The United States Secret Courts, Secret Surveillance and Other Dealings in Secret Combinations Behind Closed Doors.

I've been reading about what a surveillance state actually is.  Remember Demolition Man?  It's the movie with Sylvester Stalone and Sandra Bullock in which a cop from the past is brought to the future...anywho, this future is ruled by laws where people get tickets for saying the wrong words and other behavioral things.  In other words, they don't get to have individual rights and therefore no individuality at all.

While members of Congress refuse to admit that they are in the know on the NSA secret snooping program, it has all been done with the approval of congress, so it is not very likely that the truth is being told here.  So, is there anyone in Washington who actually tells the truth?

"A top Republican lawmaker claimed Thursday terrorists have already started to change their behavior after a self-described NSA whistleblower leaked information about classified U.S. surveillance programs to various media outlets, saying the leaks may make it "harder to track bad guys." (Read more: Fox)

In steps the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  They had a victory Wednesday towards the release of a ruling on violations our precious (and now severely troubled) 4th Amendment rights.  Even the Director of National Intelligence has revealed that the SECRET FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE COURT (FISC) ruled that there has been 4th Amendment violations in the surveillance by our government.  While we talk about the citizens of China having a lack of freedoms, at least in China you know what to expect with the state.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation scored a remarkable — and remarkably timely — legal victory on Wednesday. The secret court at the center of the recent NSA surveillance revelations allowed the group's push for the release of a ruling on violations of Americans' Fourth Amendment rights to move forward.

In May, we reported on what was then a fairly sleepy issue, a distant node on the EFF's longstanding push to uncover how the NSA's intelligence-gathering systems conflicted with the Constitution. In July 2012, a letter from the Director of National Intelligence to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon revealed that a ruling by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) found Fourth Amendment violations in the government's surveillance. source: Atlantic Wire 

In the Federalist Papers, No. 16 (Hamilton), it reads that this secret surveillance is deemed unconstitutional.  It reads as follows...

The State leaders may even make a merit of their surreptitious invasions of it (the Constitution) on the ground of some temporary convenience, exemption, or advantage.

Hamilton also talks about the power hungry leaders and how they may have a tendency to be wanton of domination instead of working for the citizens they represent.

An experiment of this nature (exertion of unconstitutional power) would always be hazardous in the face of a constitution in any degree competent to its own defense, and of a people enlightened enough to distinguish between a legal exercise and an illegal usurpation of authority.

... The regulation of the mere domestic police of a State appears to me to hold out slender allurements to ambition.  Commerce, finance, negotiation, and war seem to comprehend all the objects which have charms for minds governed by that passion; and all the powers...would contribute nothing to the dignity, to the importance, or to the splendor of the national government.

Were the Founders and those who wrote the Federalist Papers psychic?  Sure seems like they envisioned a future much like what we have, which has exploded into scandal after scandal that is ignored by Obama and his administration.  I agree with the following statements regarding the attitude of Obama and his administration.  I know that this was not started under Obama, but it has literally exploded with corruption under his administration because he has ignored the U.S. Constitution, as he has stated that he thinks of it as a nice historical document.

Surely, you might think, such all-encompassing surveillance must be unconstitutional, and ultimately will be stopped or modified by the Supreme Court. 

Think again. President Obama, among many others, has assured us that the government’s spying operations are entirely legal. 

The problem is not that the president has taken leave of his senses, or suddenly taken the rest of us for fools. The problem is that he may well be correct, at least according to the way the Supreme Court has thus far interpreted the Constitution. 

Because of their classified status, and notwithstanding the recent press revelations, the NSA surveillance operations’ extent and exact methodology remain largely unknown. But from a civil liberties standpoint, what we do know isn’t very encouraging. 

Phone RecordsOperating under various code names, such as Trailblazer, Stellar Wind and Ragtime, authority for the collection of telephone metadata—the phone numbers each of us calls and the numbers of those who call us—derives from Sections 215 and 505 of the Patriot Act, which was initially passed in 2001 and amended key provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

Section 215 (codified at 18 United States Code 1861) authorizes the FBI on behalf of the NSA to apply for court orders requiring phone companies to produce business records “to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.” The section served as the legal basis for the order published by The Guardian that was issued in April by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to Verizon Business Services. 

The court deliberates in secret, issues its orders on an “ex parte” basis without hearing from those affected by them, and only rarely publishes its decisions, although the Justice Department reports annually to Congress on the overall volume of surveillance applications. In 2012, the FBI submitted 1,789 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. One was withdrawn; all the others were approved. 

Section 505 (codified at 18 USC 2709) authorizes the FBI to issue national security letters, without any judicial oversight, to obtain subscriber information and toll billing records from telecom carriers. Recipients of national security letters are subject to gag orders that forbid them from ever revealing the letters’ existence. In 2011, the FBI issued 16,511 such letters.Those seeking to declare these sections unconstitutional face at least one enormous obstacle: the 1979 case of Smith v. Maryland, in which the Supreme Court held that telephone users have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the records of their calling activities. As the Smith ruling instructs, absent a privacy expectation, no illegal search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment occurs. Unless the Supreme Court overrules or distinguishes Smith from the NSA’s current spying platforms, legal challenges to orders like the one issued to Verizon are likely to meet with little success. 

Internet Content SurveillanceThe obstacles facing those seeking to halt or limit the collection and reading of emails and other electronic communications under the PRISM program are in some ways even more daunting, courtesy of the Supreme Court’s decision in Clapper v. Amnesty International, released in February. In a 5-4 majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court dismissed a complaint brought by Amnesty International and other human rights groups, reasoning that none of the organizations had suffered actual legal harm, and thus lacked “standing” to sue. None could show, the majority argued, that its communications in fact had been intercepted in the past or that they would likely be intercepted in the future.  

Although domestic wiretapping warrants issued by judges must be supported by probable cause, the collection of emails challenged in the Clapper case and involved in the PRISM program is governed by another set of legal provisions, found in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (codified at 18 USC 1881). These permit the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approval of surveillance operations against foreign targets upon certifications of reasonableness that fall short of the warrant requirement for probable cause. The provisions also authorize such operations to proceed without any court approval for up to seven days in “exigent circumstances,” as determined by the attorney general. 

Although the PRISM operation on its face is directed solely at foreign targets, even the sleuths at the NSA can’t always determine where a person is located. As a result, the agency reportedly collects information on targets believed with only 51 percent certainty to be outside the U.S. 

American journalists and others who investigate national security issues are thus left in a Kafkaesque dilemma, validly concerned that their emails to and from people abroad are being swept up in secret government data dragnets yet foreclosed on technical standing grounds from challenging the dragnets because they are unable to penetrate the very secrecy they object to.In the absence of a highly improbable constitutional turnaround by the Roberts court or some equally improbable decisive reform of the Patriot Act and FISA by Congress, this is the legal structure we will have for the foreseeable future. 

All nations have the right to protect themselves against terror. But in a country that prides itself on the values of transparency and the rule of law, we can do better than the current system, which seemingly falls short in both respects. source: Truth Dig

 What is a top secret court doing in our United States?!  They work in secret combinations behind closed doors, allowing for the signs of the times to come forth, written almost in exact wording with the Biblical prophecy.  They are an organization, like more organizations that we are finding out about, that are running our country from behind closed doors and by a few elite individuals.

Are we ready now for that discussion about secrecy? In December, in a holiday-season rush to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the U.S. Senate shot down several amendments intended to limit the powers the act grants to the government and to scale back the near-total secrecy that it authorizes. source: Bloomberg

Additionally, many are waking up to the fact that the votes for government leaders are fraudulent and are created behind closed doors as well.  What a frustrating thing to wake up to!  To wake up to the fact that your vote does not really count is a rough thing, especially for those of us who are instinctively and deeply patriotic to our United States of America.

The question for Barkin is not whether we should have a surveillance state since the surveillance state is certainly here but what type of surveillance state we will have. He notes that there are a number of dangers posed by the surveillance state. With all the data collected there may be a move towards a parallel track of preventative law enforcement that may be contrary to guarantees of a bill of rights.

Traditional law enforcement may begin also to follow this parallel track. With the vast data base of information collected by the government, local police forces will want to access and mine this information not just intelligence agents. Similarly social service providers will want access to information to serve clients better but also no doubt to weed out "undeserving" clients. Finally, Barkin claims that the government may use more and more private agencies to collect information for it, in order to circumvent constitutional guarantees. I am not sure that the government worries that much about such constitutional issues. James Clapper. National Intelligence Director, claims that the snooping is all perfectly legal under the Patriot Act and has been authorized by Congress:"Clapper said the data collection under the program, first unveiled by the newspapers The Washington Post and The Guardian in Britain, was conducted with the approval of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court and with the knowledge of Internet service providers."

The obvious reason to have the work done by private entities is that they can make a profit from this activity and then donate to election campaigns of politicians who helped privatize the data collection.

Balkin claims that there can be a democratic surveillance state or an authoritarian surveillance state. A democratic surveillance state collects as little data as possible and tells the public as much as possible about what it is being collected and what is being done with information. An authoritarian surveillance state will collect as much information as possible about its citizens and tell them as little as possible. Paul Krugman claims that the US should be classified as an authoritarian surveillance state. His position is stated in the appended video clip.
source: Digital Journal 

How do you feel about your 4th Amendment and about the secret dealings of our government?  I really want to hear from you!

Code Named "Bumblehive". NSA's New 1,000,000,000,000,000 Gigabytes Data Center.

THE BUMBLEHIVE

10:44 AM  Admin  No comments

Author,
Chuck Frank

72 Fusion Centers are an intricate nationwide web of shared data
collection, and set in place to snoop into our cellphones and e-mails
while local law enforcement and neighborhood spies feed that
confidential information to those powers at be. Don’t forget, it is
all for your own “security” so just relax. Relax? I thought that we
all had the right to feel secure in our own person or homes, however,
having a Fusion Center in Sacramento isn’t exactly making me feel all
that secure. No, I’m actually feeling the opposite for there is
something here that is telling me that our government isn’t quite
giving us the WHOLE truth about a lot of things. That is obvious. So
then, what do we have? We’ve got a lot more than just your friendly
neighborhood watch group looking after you, and for those of you who
didn’t know, there is a mega Data Center being built in Bluffdale, Utah
which is a, not so secret, NSA project, and it can house all of the
personal and PRIVATE INFORMATION of every person in the U.S. Well,
that’s just fine and dandy. The center is 1,000,000 square feet and is
code named the “BUMBLEHIVE.” As for the amount of information that can
be stored, it will have an astounding storage capacity of
1,000,000,000,000,000 gigabytes and it’s all for the “good” of the
nation. NSA is on a path towards building this first exaflop machine
(1 quintillion instructions per second) by 2018. Naturally, NSA denies
that they have any interest in “tracking” every citizen even though
they do have the capability of eaves dropping on every American.
Let’s reverse gears. Does anyone remember 9/11 when President Bush
said they were “only” eaves dropping on international calls, while all
along, warrantless domestic calls were in the mix? At that time the CEO
of Quest Communications said that he would not comply with warrantless
wiretaps. Presently, he is in prison for “insider trading.” Shall we
connect the dots? He is presumably the wealthiest person behind bars
in America. Here’s a footnote; The U.S. Government stopped doing
business with Quest after they refused to do warrantless wiretaps.

As for the ongoing surveillance that is happening today, in their
own words, NSA gives us a snapshot of their data collection efforts
which is for the “protection” of the nation.
“For security reasons, it is unrealistic to expect a complete list
of information we collect for our national citizen database. In the
spirit of openness and transparency however, here is a partial list:”

* internet searches * websites visited * e-mails sent and received *
social media activity (Facebook, Twitter, etc) * blogging activity
including posts read, written, and commented * videos watched and/or
uploaded online * photos viewed and/or uploaded online * music
downloads * mobile phone GPS-location data * mobile phone apps
downloaded * phone call records * text messages sent and received *
online purchases and auction transactions * bookstore receipts * credit
card/ debit card transactions * bank statements * cable television
shows watched and recorded * commuter toll records * parking receipts *
electronic bus and subway passes / Smartpasses * travel itineraries *
border crossings * surveillance cameras * medical information including
diagnoses and treatments * prescription drug purchases * guns and
ammunition sales * educational records * arrest records * driver
license information

George Orwell just rolled over in his grave.

source: http://eterritorialdispatch.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-bumblehive.html

Bumblehive

Bumblehive is the alleged code name for the NSA’s new multi-billion dollar spy center in Utah although the official name appears to be Stellar Wind. . It is the mother of all data collection. Bumblehive most likely is a spin off from this word. Who says the feds don’t have a sense of humor? Today is the reported day of some kind of ribbon cutting ceremony. Since there’s little info to be found on the ceremony, it must be assumed it’s a secret one and not many will get close enough to spy on the spies.

I’ve been trying to put myself in the shoes of the NSA to figure out what’s going on. If I had to hire contractors to do the most sensitive, most secretive jobs in the inner workings of the facility, who would I get? Well, that’s a no brainer. Of course it would be some shady companies with ties to Israel with a history of corruption and staffed with mostly unstable individuals. Backdoor men hanging the backdoor that leads straight to Tel Aviv. Why should we expect otherwise?

Submitted by From the Trenches on Fri, 05/31/2013 - 05:36

source: http://whatreallyhappened.com/content/bumblehive

What we know about the NSA's secret data warehouse in Utah

Published June 13, 2013

Associated Press

• 

The nation's new billion-dollar epicenter for fighting global cyberthreats sits just south of Salt Lake City, tucked away on a National Guard base at the foot of snow-capped mountains. The long, squat buildings span 1.5 million square feet, and are filled with super-powered computers designed to store massive amounts of information gathered secretly from phone calls and emails.

Two small, weathered signs in the sagebrush greet interlopers to this place with a stark warning: "Military reservation. No trespassing." But there is no visible marker bearing the facility's name and operator: The Utah Data Center, brought to you courtesy of the National Security Agency.

When it opens this fall, the facility will be the NSA's largest data storage center in the U.S. Just don't ask Utah officials, and certainly not the residents of tiny Bluffdale, just north of the new center, to tell you exactly what will go on inside. They either don't know, or aren't saying. And the NSA is famously tight-lipped.

"We know it's a spy center. But who are they spying on?" said Connie Robbins, an upholstery shop owner who lives in Bluffdale, a community of 8,000 some 25 miles south of Salt Lake City that is known for its rodeo and annual Old West Days.

The dearth of information has perpetuated a mystery that has spawned dozens of theories and a spoof website that even includes a phony code name for the facility: "Bumblehive," a play on Utah's nickname of the "Beehive State."

Last week's revelation that the NSA is collecting millions of U.S. phone records along with digital communications stored by nine major Internet providers illustrates how aggressively personal information is being congregated and analyzed -- and shines a brighter light on what will be going on in secret at the Utah facility, scheduled to open in October.

NSA officials say the center will play a key role in the nation's effort to protect national security networks, and allow U.S. authorities to monitor for potential cyberthreats. In an email, agency spokeswoman Vanee Vines said that "many unfounded allegations have been made about the planned activities" of the center.

"NSA would like to confirm, on the record, that the Utah Data Center is a state-of-the-art data facility designed to support the U.S. intelligence community's efforts to further strengthen and protect the nation. Its operations will be lawfully conducted in accordance with U.S. laws and policies," Vines wrote.

She provided no additional details, however.

'It's just a big file cabinet out in the Western area.' 

- Richard "Dickie" George, who retired from the NSA in 2011 after 40 years

Richard "Dickie" George, who retired from the NSA in 2011 after 40 years, said the facility isn't nearly as interesting or mysterious as some think. He calls it little more than a giant storeroom. Inundated with increasing volumes of secretly taped phone calls, intercepted emails and poached records of online purchases, the NSA needed a mega-warehouse to put it all, he said.

"It's just a big file cabinet out in the Western area," said George, once a senior technical leader at the agency. "There is no spying going on there."

NSA agents elsewhere will comb through the data stored in Utah as the agency attempts to understand how terrorist groups operate and who plays what roles, George said. Emails, articles, websites and videos on the Internet may hold clues about such activities, he said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/06/13/what-we3-know-utah-nsa-mega-data-warehouse/#ixzz2W7ffdreD

NSA leaker Edward Snowden reportedly tells Hong Kong newspaper US also hacking Hong Kong, China

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/13/nsa-leaker-gives-hong-kong-newspaper-interview-says-not-traitor/#ixzz2W7fs8ZhK

Utah Data Center

Background

The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data center designed to support the Intelligence Community's efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the nation. NSA is the executive agent for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and will be the lead agency at the center.

The steady rise in available computer power and the development of novel computer platforms will enable us to easily turn the huge volume of incoming data into an asset to be exploited, for the good of the nation.



The Utah Data Center is currently under construction and is expected to open in October 2013. Our 1.5 billion-dollar one million square-foot Bluffdale / Camp Williams facility will house a 100,000 sq-ft mission critical data center. The remaining 900,000 SF will be used for technical support and administrative space. Other supporting facilities include water treatment facilities, chiller plant, power substations, vehicle inspection facility, visitor control center, and sixty diesel-fueled emergency standby generators and fuel facility for a 3-day 100% power backup capability. 

Utah Data Center Site Plan

The site plan below shows the location of the administration building, chiller plant, data halls, generators, fuel storage tanks, storage warehouse, power substations, visitor control center, and vehicle inspection facility. View the full-size Utah Data Center Site Plan

Utah Data Center Technical Specifications

Data Storage Capacity

The storage capacity of the Utah Data Center will be measured in "zettabytes". What exactly is a zettabyte? There are a thousand gigabytes in a terabyte; a thousand terabytes in a petabyte; a thousand petabytes in an exabyte; and a thousand exabytes in a zettabyte. Some of our employees like to refer to them as "alottabytes".

Learn more about the domestic surveillance data we plan to process and store in the Utah Data Center. Also, view our strategy for using the PRISM data collection program, nationwide intercept stations, and the "Boundless Informant" mapping tool to gather and track this data.

Code-Breaking Supercomputer Platform

In October 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory launched the Titan Supercomputer, which is capable of churning through more than 20,000 trillion calculations each second or 20 petaflops. (1 petaflop = 1 quadrillion instructions per second).

Our Target: 256-bit AES

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm is used worldwide to encrypt electronic data on hard drives, email systems, and web browsers. The AES 256-bit encryption key is the standard for top-secret US government communications. Computer experts have estimated it would take longer than the age of the universe to break the code using a trial-and-error brute force attack with today's computing technology.

In 2004, the NSA launched a plan to use the Multiprogram Research Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to build a classified supercomputer designed specifically for cryptanalysis targeting the AES algorithm. Recently, our classified NSA Oak Ridge facility made a stunning breakthrough that is leading us on a path towards building the first exaflop machine (1 quintillion instructions per second) by 2018. This will give us the capability to break the AES encryption key within an actionable time period and allow us to read and process stored encrypted domestic data as well as foreign diplomatic and military communications.


Visitor Control Center

Construction Status

We're using a Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule to track the cost and resource data for over 26,000 activities. The project initially required over a million cubic yards of earthwork and nearly seven miles of new roadways. The massive twenty-building complex is being completed in three phases. The first phase was completed last Fall and includes the first of four data halls (Data Center Module DCM 1); the Administration Building; Data Center Loading and Storage; Chiller Plant #1 and storage tanks; Generator Plant #1 with fuel system storage; Visitor Control Center; Vehicle Cargo Inspection Facility; kennel; perimeter warehouse; and fire pump building.

The second phase, completed early in 2013 includes the second data hall (DCM 2) along with Generator Plant #2 with fuel system storage.



The final phase is scheduled to be completed by October 2013 and includes the remaining two data halls (DCM 3 and 4); Generator Plants 3 and 4 with fuel system storage; and Chiller Plant #2 and storage tanks. Because of the national security implications of an on-time opening of this critical facility, the NSA has already begun the installation of classified equipment in the first two data halls (DCM 1 and 2).

Secret Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

We held a closed-press ribbon cutting ceremony and tour on May 30th, 2013 in celebration of the completion of the exterior building construction. We invited our most loyal partners at the local, state, and federal level who have had the vision and fortitude to enable us to build this powerful Intelligence Community data center "for the good of the Nation". We are on track to open in October!

 source: http://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/

FBI director defends surveillance programs, says 9/11 could have been prevented

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/13/fbi-director-to-undergo-questioning-by-house-panel/#ixzz2W7gj8wk6

Global Privacy Has Been Made Obsolete – Bumblehive

June 3, 2013

A massive new NSA data centre in Utah will begin collecting electronic information from citizens all around the world, regardless of the country they reside in.

The facility, code name “Bumblehive”, is 1.5-million-square-ft,  has cost almost $2-billion and  can store 1 trillion terabytes of information, creating the largest spy centre known to man.

The NSA plans to collect electronic information, everything from emails to cellphone records and even purchasing receipts from all over the world. They will store the information to identify threatening patterns, they claim.

So far, not one single country has moved to litigate against this level of domestic surveillance.

The data centre is able to capture all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls and Internet searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter”, though its precise purpose is secret.

Bumblehive will also use satellites, tap into undersea cables and pick up microwave links.

In 2012 Wired reported that the data centre is:

In essence, like a cloud, a digital cloud, so that agency employees, analysts from around the country at NSA headquarters and their listening posts in different parts of the U.S.—in Georgia, Texas, Hawaii and Colorado—can all access that information held in Bluffdale in that data center.  And that’s pretty much a summary of what that data center is all about.

The NSA is much different from the CIA. First of all, it’s about three times the size. It costs far more.  It’s tremendously more secret than the CIA. And what it does is very different. It’s focused on eavesdropping, on tapping into major communications links, on listening to what people around the world and, to some degree, in the United States say on telephones, email, communications . . . And NSA is really the most powerful intelligence agency, not only in the U.S., but in the world today.

source:http://www.dailyalternative.co.uk

Will NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Be Assassinated?

Ron Paul: Edward Snowden May Be Target Of U.S. Drone Strike

Posted: 06/11/2013 8:53 pm EDT  |  Updated: 06/12/2013 9:44 am EDT

WASHINGTON -- Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) warned Tuesday that the U.S. government may use a drone missile to kill Edward Snowden, who recently leaked classified information on National Security Administration surveillance programs.

"I'm worried about somebody in our government might kill him with a cruise missile or a drone missile," Paul said during an interview on Fox Business News. "I mean, we live in a bad time where American citizens don't even have rights and that they can be killed. But the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what's going on."

Snowden, a former NSA contractor, fled to Hong Kong before disclosing over the weekend that he was behind the leaks of information on NSA's sweeping monitoring of phone calls and Internet data. His actions have reignited a debate on Capitol Hill around security and civil liberties, and revived bipartisan legislation aimed at declassifying court opinions used to justify mass surveillance.

Paul, an ardent libertarian whose son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), waged an hours-long Senate filibuster in March in protest of the administration's drone policy, lamented that Americans are in an age "where people who tell the truth about what the government is doing" get in trouble.

"I don't think for a minute that he is a traitor," Ron Paul said of Snowden. "Everybody is worried about him and what they're going to do and how they're going to convict him of treason and how they're going to kill him. But what about the people who destroy our Constitution? ... What do we think about people who assassinate American citizens without trials and assume that's the law of the land? That's where our problem is."

Paul has a fan in Snowden: Campaign finance reports show that Snowden donated $250 to Paul's presidential campaign twice in 2012.

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

'US may kill NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden'

Last Updated: Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 16:58

Washington: Former Representative Ron Paul has expressed fear over US' potential use of ' drone missiles' to kill whistleblower Edward Snowden for leaking classified information about US snooping programme. 

Ron Paul has said that Americans live in an age where those who tell the truth about what the government is doing may face troubles, reports Huffington Post. 

According to the report, Paul does not believe that Snowden is a traitor and is concerned about the manner in which US will convict him for the treason.

Paul, whose son Senator Rand Paul protested against the administration's drone policy, expressed concern about those who destroy the Constitution and assassinate American citizens without trials and assume that's the law of the land. 

Snowden who in an attempt to escape US prosecution fled to Hong Kong was recently reported missing from hotel he was staying in rising concerns among his supporters. 

Paul has a fan in Snowden as he had donated 250 dollars to her Presidential campaign twice in 2012, the report added. 

source: 

http://zeenews.india.com

NSA leaker contributed to Ron Paul campaign: Records

Last Updated: Monday, June 10, 2013, 20:30

Washington: The computer expert behind the leaks about about two sweeping US surveillance programs gave money last year to libertarian Ron Paul's run for the Republican presidential nomination, election records indicate. 

Edward Snowden, the ex-CIA employee turned whistleblower, gave $500 to Paul, a presidential long-shot who bowed out of the race last May when it became clear Mitt Romney would be the Republican nominee. Federal Election Commission records show an Edward Snowden of Columbia, Maryland, whose employer is listed as Dell, contributing $250 to Paul's campaign on March 18, 2012. The man who leaked the vital US surveillance data worked at one point as a contractor for US computer giant Dell, according The Guardian, the British newspaper that published stories based on the leaks. 

On May 6, a man with the same name cut a check for $250, with his address listed as Waipahu, Hawaii, about nine miles (15 kilometers) from the NSA facility where Snowden said he recently worked as a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton. 

Snowden, 29, revealed himself Sunday as the source of The Guardian's expose of the US dragnet of Americans' telephone data as well as intelligence agencies' mining of Internet information such as email. 

The revelations have rocked Washington, and some US lawmakers have called for his extradition and prosecution. 

Ron Paul, an 11-term congressman from Texas who retired in January, earned a loyal and impassioned following, particularly among young Americans. 

His campaign focused on his vehement defense of constitutional principles and individual liberties, electrifying some young voters who had become disillusioned by years of war and skyrocketing deficits. 

read more at http://zeenews.india.com

No signs Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong

Updated 10:52 a.m. ET

HONG KONGThe former CIA employee who suddenly burst into headlines around the globe by revealing himself as the source of top-secret leaks about U.S. surveillance programs has just as quickly gone underground again.

Two days after he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel where he told the Guardian newspaper that he had "no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," Edward Snowden's whereabouts were still unclear, but it appears unlikely he has left the city.

Law enforcement sources say there is no evidence Snowden has left Hong Kong, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr, who adds that the sources suggest investigators have a pretty good idea where he might be.

The South China Morning Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation,claimed Wednesday to have obtained an exclusive interview with Snowden. Their report states he "has been holed up in secret locations in Hong Kong."

"People who think I made a mistake in picking (Hong Kong) as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality," Snowden is quoted as telling the Post earlier Wednesday.

He told the Post he will fight any extradition attempt by the U.S. government, saying: "My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system."

Snowden, in his Sunday interview with the Guradian newspaper, said he wanted to avoid the media spotlight, noting he didn't want "the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the U.S. government is doing."

read more at http://www.cbsnews.com

As Snowden Vanishes, Russia Reaches Out to Him

NSA WHISTLEBLOWER DROPS OUT OF SIGHT IN HONG KONG

(NEWSER) – Edward Snowden checked out of his hotel in Hong Kong yesterday and has essentially disappeared. And while he is believed to still be in the territory, Russia has suggested it might welcome the man who exposed the NSA's secret surveillance, the Wall Street Journal reports. If a request for asylum is received, "it will be considered," the Kremlin's chief spokesman says. The head of a Russian foreign affairs committee called the former CIA employee a human rights activist—and predicted "hysteria" in the US if Moscow decided to grant him refuge. In other developments:

• There are more explosive stories to come from Snowden's leak, according to Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. "We are going to have a lot more significant revelations that have not yet been heard over the next several weeks and months," Greenwald tells the AP, "and we intend to pursue every last one of them."

• A quirky tidbit from the New York Times on how Greenwald's meeting with Snowden went down. He (along with a colleague and documentarian) were to enter Snowden's hotel and ask for directions; if Snowden felt comfortable, he would walk past them carrying a Rubik's Cube—and that's exactly how it happened.
• Bloomberg dug extensively through Snowden's background and found little to suggest he would become one of the biggest whistleblowers in US history. Snowden, whose father retired from the Coast Guard a few years ago, never finished high school and spent a few years living alone in a Maryland condo where neighbors described him as "serious" and "studious."
• Snowden was apparently a Ron Paul supporter, but the feeling is mutual. On Piers Morgan Live, Paul last night said Snowden has "done a great service"—and deserves a thank-you letter from President Obama. "The president ran on transparency, we're getting a lot of transparency now."
• What Snowden will likely get instead: charged, and soon. Two officials tell ABC News the Justice Department is hustling to file criminal charges and try to get Snowden back on US soil.
• Snowden's exposé is also causing international headaches for Obama, the Guardian reports. Angela Merkel plans to grill Obama on NSA surveillance of European communications when they meet next week, and the European Commission chief has also promised to get answers from US officials.

read more at http://www.newser.com/story/169291/russia-wed-consider-snowden-asylum-request.html